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The Old Empire
Is Now a Club
Worth Joining

By

David Howell

Updated Oct. 29, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

EDINBURGH--Meetings of the Commonwealth heads of government, the latest of which has just finished here, never get very good press. This is a pity, because away from the official limelight the Commonwealth is quietly evolving into a fascinatingly modern institution. It has all the good qualities of an informal global network, with none of the paralyzing characteristics of some busybody supranational hierarchy. There are no layers of highly paid international bureaucrats to support, no committees filled with ministers reading endless speeches at each other through weary interpreters, no intrusive new laws binding and overriding...